Thawed
by astroanna
Summary: The highlights of "Frozen" set to Fall Out Boy...need I go on?


_Am I more then you bargained for yet?  
I've been dying to tell you anything you want to hear  
'Cause that's just who I am this week  
Lie in the grass next to the mausoleum  
I'm just a notch in your bedpost but you're just a line in a song  
_

"She's annoying. Refused to take the antibiotics because other people might need them," House said flatly.

"She said she cares about other people? What a poser," Wilson said sardonically.

Wilson watched House carefully, even though the older man was facing away from him. There was a reason House was complaining about this patient, and Wilson was becoming interested as to what it could be.

"KUB is clean," he said as he finished scanning the test results in front of him.

"You don't like her," he went on, his finger sweeping toward House in a triumphant gesture, "because she's a psychiatrist."

"I'm a complicated man," House replied, "I loathe her for many reasons."

Typical House evasion, Wilson thought. This is getting good.

"Never before has a profession been so decried by someone who needed it so badly."

_Drop a heart and break a name  
We're always sleeping in and sleeping for the wrong team_

_We're going down, down in an earlier round  
And sugar we're going down swinging  
I'll be your number one with a bullet  
A loaded God complex  
cock it and pull it _

"Are. You. Okay," Wilson said, still in disbelief.

"Valid medical question," House said flatly, determinedly avoiding Wilson's eyes.

"I have never heard you ask a patient that question", Wilson said unflinchingly, "you've never asked me that question and you've seen me fall down a flight of stairs drunk."

It was time to use House's own methods, Wilson decided. Looking over at his friend, the older man was still avoiding his eyes. What was it about this woman that was different?

"You've slept with her," Wilson ventured, watching carefully for House's reaction.

"She's nine thousand miles away," House pointed out, seeming relieved at the obvious flaw in the reasoning. "While a certain part of me unfurls-"

Wilson shook his head, refusing to be deterred.

"Somehow you've been…intimate with her."

House did not reply, and Wilson knew he had a piece of his answer.

_Is this more then you bargained for yet?  
Oh, don't mind me, I'm watching you two from the closet  
Wishing to be the friction in your jeans_

_Isn't it messed up how I'm just dying to be him  
I'm just a notch in your bedpost but you're just a line in a song_

_Drop a heart and break a name_

_We're always sleeping in and sleeping for the wrong team_

"This one," House assured her, "you will feel."

"Will you do it?" House watched Kate ask Sean.

"He drilled a hole in your skull after drinking your pee," House said matter-of-factly, "I think he's up for this."

Why the hell am I telling her that? House asked himself. It didn't help Kate, or anyone, for her to know what it had taken to save her. House listened to Foreman explain the procedure to Sean, and instinctively his head dropped, and he stared at the table. He could not help flinching, however, at the sound of her scream. Looking back up at the image before him, however, he could see Sean make his way to Kate's side.

"Splint your toe," he said automatically, "you'll be fine."

"Thank you, House," Kate said earnestly.

Once again, House deflected his own involvement uncharacteristically.

"Don't thank me. He's the one who saved your life," he said, indicating Sean.

He watched the two young people lock eyes for a moment, then embrace. House locked eyes with Kate then, the gratitude shining in her eyes, even through the webcam. He knew at that moment that the gratitude was born not only of relief in her successful treatment, but also of House's help in bringing Sean's arms around her. Flicking off the webcam, House nevertheless stared at the blank screen for a moment. Perhaps telling Kate what Sean had done had had a purpose after all.

"He likes her," House said flatly, but the words hid a pain he would never admit.

_We're going down, down in an earlier round  
And sugar we're going down swinging  
I'll be your number one with a bullet  
A loaded God complex  
cock it and pull it _

"Girls are good, House, and you know it." Wilson said forcefully, "you solved your case because you cared about that girl."

"You're demonstrating the illusion of manly confidence," House replied, "which means you haven't closed the deal yet."

"I closed the deal," Wilson corrected, "I just like her."

"Still?" House said disbelievingly.

"You knew your patient hated having cold feet," Wilson pointed out, "because you did a physical exam, because you liked her-"

"Your theory is I cared, therefore I let her keep her socks on?" House said skeptically, "if that's what love is, I don't want to have anything to do with it."

"It starts with warm feet, but it leads to other things. Your mom and I will explain when you're older."

"If I'd made her take them off like I should have, I'd have seen the toe and solved the case days ago."

Wilson could hear the regret in House's voice, but could also sense that this woman had affected House in a way he hadn't seen since Stacy.

"But you don't care about her," Wilson said, sarcasm lacing his tone.

"Of course not," came Amber's voice, "House doesn't care about anyone."

As Wilson stood to greet Amber he smiled. He took a moment to kiss her hello properly before the House fallout. Amber's words rang through Wilson's mind, however. For the first time in a long time, Wilson believed that maybe, just maybe, they weren't true.

A/N: OK, so I've had House on the brain lately (as demonstrated my my most recent fic). I'm in my car listening to the radio and this song comes on. All of a sudden the scenes from "Frozen" play out in my head to the song. I listened more carefully to the lyrics and found a pretty powerful connection to House's motivations in this episode...

et voila! :)


End file.
